MONTREAL — Under different circumstances, it would have been the highest praise for a cinema makeup artist.

The photos of mutilated bodies Rémy Couture posted online were so realistic an Austrian pathologist who examined them concluded they might depict an actual murder.

But in this case, a complaint about the disturbing images was passed to Canadian police. In October 2009, police ensnared Mr. Couture outside his Montreal home and arrested him for producing, possessing and distributing obscene material.

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Initially, police thought they might have something more serious on their hands, a Quebec Superior Court jury heard Tuesday.

Sergeant Detective Eric Lavallée of the Montreal police testified when he received the case in January 2009, he was not sure whether the photos depicted the actual torture and murder of the women photographed.

One of his investigators concluded the images were staged and the gore was evidence of Mr. Couture’s special-effects talents, but even then, police were not prepared to take any chances.

After obtaining a warrant to search Mr. Couture’s home, Mr. Lavallée used a ruse to nab the man, who went by the business name Rémy FX.

Posing as a potential client seeking a mock gory photo session with his wife, he arranged a meeting two days before Halloween. At the scheduled time, he called Mr. Couture to say he was having trouble finding the address, and when the man walked to the corner to help him, he was arrested.

Sgt.-Det. Lavallée told the court he decided against simply ringing the suspect’s doorbell because the nature of the videos left him concerned for the safety of arresting police officers.

After Mr. Couture was in a police cruiser and they finally entered his apartment, police took note of the large crucifix hanging in his bedroom, the scarred face and severed finger in his makeup workshop and an image on his computer showing a woman tied to a bed with a crucifix in her mouth.

Sergeant Detective Christina Vlachos of the Montreal police testified the case against Mr. Couture began with complaints in 2006 in Austria and Germany. Federal police in Austria sought a pathologist’s opinion of the photos, and he concluded they showed a “possible manslaughter,” the jury heard.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was advised through Interpol. After it was established Mr. Couture lived in the Montreal suburb of Laval, the case was passed to municipal police there in February 2007.

Laval police did nothing with the complaint, the court heard. Nearly two years later, it landed with the Montreal police morality squad after Mr. Couture, 35, moved to the city.

The Crown began showing some of the hundreds of photos copied from Mr. Couture’s website, InnerDepravity.com, which has since been taken down.

Classified on the site under such headings as “Hook,” “Burn,” “Sacrifice,” “Suicide” and “Necrophile,” the photos show half-naked women being tortured, mutilated and sexually assaulted.

In one series, a masked male killer slices off a woman’s nipple. In another, a woman victim has a knife inserted in her genitals. Some of the photos depict the attacker having sex with a corpse.

The trial adjourned for the day before all the photos were shown. Jurors will also see two short films — Inner Depravity 1 and Inner Depravity 2 — that were found on the site.

As the trial opened, Crown prosecutor Michel Pennou told the seven-woman, five-man jury the material Mr. Couture posted on his website, crossed a line because of the combination of violence and sexual acts.

He described it as an attack on “fundamental Canadian values” and said expert witnesses will testify about the possibility such images prompt people to imitate the crimes depicted.